Saturday, August 15, 2009

Krishna Janmashtami Pooja is performed to celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna.

According to info gathered from my Dad, it is observed on the eighth day, (hence it is called Ashtami ) Ashtami tithi, of the dark half or Krishna Paksha of the month of Shravana in the Hindu calendar, when the Rohini Nakshatra is ascendant. Note: Wikipedia seems to believe it is Bhadra month.

We always perform the pooja ourselves at home, this time I decided to document some parts of it. I have also prepared basic lists of items needed for general convenience.

For GSBs, the Janmashtami day is awaited eagerly mostly for the varieties of yummy food that is prepared. Traditionally 108 different delicacies are offered to the Lord at midnight, and then happily consumed by hungry devotees. For those operating on a budget, 56 dishes are offered (chappan bhog). Ofcourse, in our recession-hit days even this seems a bit much. So we settled for 12.

Our Mantap was decorated this way

Janmashtami Pooja generally takes the form of welcoming the Lord as one would a guest. As in most poojas, only males who wear the sacred thread (after "Moonji"/Upanayana) perform the pooja. ( This is probably because the ladies were too busy with all the cooking )

My Dad follows procedures as mentioned in a well-thumbed kannada book (Sri Krishna Janmashtami by Prabhakar Press Ltd, Udupi) and the pooja is performed in sanskrit.

Significant parts follow:

Note: Samarpayami means "I offer". After each part is over, the person doing the pooja announces which part is offered, as below.

In places where the offering mentioned is not available, a tulsi dul (leaf pair) is offered instead.

Running Time of Pooja

Usually 1 hr 30 min and 30 min for aarti ( we have 3 aartis; 10 min per aarti )Many of the lord's names are tongue twisters so it may run longer if you stumble on each name.

Dad performing pooja, doing the aarti

Neivedyam

As in any pooja, everyone knows the most important part is the prasad. It is prepared before hand (and only after the person who is preparing it has bathed). It is not tasted before offering it to god.

1. Thread for tying up decorations2. Scissors3. Creating a mantap ( we use slabs of thermocol to make a small stage )4. Manai ( wooden seat) / Mats - to seat the person(s) performing pooja5. Cloth lengths for decoration (usually hung as a screen behind the mantap)6. Carpet to seat the rest of the household.

FastingThe persons involving themselves in the pooja are required to fast. Fasting in this case is defined as abstaining from consuming meat, onion, garlic and carbohydrates (lepu). Water, all Milk products, fruit, vegetables, food grains like lentils may be consumed.

[ Note: Since Paneer is made from splitting milk, this is considered inauspicious among hindus. Paneer is an introduced food to North-India ( came from Afghanisthan, I read this in Al Basham's The Wonder that was India ). You may want to keep away from the cheeses, if you want to be true to the fast ]

THE FOOD

After pooja is over, dinner is served. Our menu this year :Note : no onion or garlic is used. In temples, hing (asofetida) is also not used.

Dinner is served on plaintain leaves. Place leaf with smaller end on the left hand side of the seated person.Serve salt first, then follow the order as in list above.

Regrettably, after food was served, I completely forgot to take pictures. So sadly, I have no pictures of the divine tasting things mentioned above. But I assure you it was yum! It was only after dinner, on a full tummy, that we remembered the camera.

Keshav and I forgot to bring our Cameras; so all photos were taken by Keshav, on my parent's Olympus-SP550UZ.

For Pooja with limited time and resources :Short-Cuts

1 diya ( if not oil/ghee, at least LED )1 arti ( use a plate with karpur or give arti with the diya )1 tulsi dul ( pick it from your own plant )1 flower ( pick it from your own plant )Fruit ( im sure there is some fruit in the house, 1 coconut would be great too )Agarbhatti kumkumSugar as nivedhyam

Dont forget to have bath and fast.

Read the ashtotar. If there are several people and you are in hurry, it can be divided, in a Divide and Conquer Strategy eg. 25 each For even shorter pooja, it is sufficient to say the following.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

The Purslane is a common plant; usually considered a weed. When it first appeared in my garden, I mistook it for the wingpod purslane which I had seen flowering in my office garden. I waited for the characteristic cup like flowers to emerge, and was very disappointed to see a tiny yellow flower quite unlike what I had expected.

A chance visit to a nursery led to me acquiring two of these (incase one did not survive my "care" ). I was pleasantly surprised when it not only survived but thrived and yielded two different varieties - the WingPod Purslane ( this is the common one ) and the Portulaca Allglow ( a specially created hybrid ).

Research on Wikipedia and the FlowersOfIndia site for this blog revealed that they are all related to the same Portulaca Family. Even the Moss Rose is a close relative.

Varieties:Common Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) is widely considered an edible plant, and in some areas an invasive type of weed. (also known as Verdolaga, Pigweed, Little Hogweed or Pusley)

Portulaca Allglow : Portulaca spp. This was a surprise find and it is not very common, the nursery in Jeevan Bhima Nagar has it. The inner flower which is a bright pink has a different texture and feel than the outer petals. It is a specially created hybrid and not naturally occurring.

WingPod Purslane : Portulaca umbraticola

This plant I have seen in two colours, yellow and pink-ish peach. It has lovely cup like flowers which open in the sun-shine and close by sunset. They need the sun to open, I find that on cloudy days they wont bloom at all.

Care and GrowingNo Care is needed. (why else do you think I have this?) Sun and occasional watering is welcome. It is not completely pest resistant, I have seen it under attack from aphids. I have sprayed it with mild detergent water and prayed (hard). This seems to be working.

Grown easily in pots, it can be propagated easily through cuttings ( Ive tried it, it works). Chop them up, make millions. Grows rather easily. Currently though, the allglow has stopped flowering, it may be entering a rest phase, or it may be mad at me because I forgot to water it last week.

History and Research:Portulacaceae is a family of flowering plants, comprising about 20 genera with about 500 species, ranging from herbaceous plants to shrubs. It is also known as the purslane family; it has a cosmopolitan distribution, with the highest diversity in semi-arid regions of the Southern Hemisphere in Africa, Australia, and South America, but with a few species also extending north into Arctic regions.

Can I eat it?Purslane can be eaten raw or cooked, and lends itself to stir fry dishes. Some say it has a slight lemon-like taste and mushroom-like texture. It is relatively easy to grow in more northern climates, including the New England area in the United States.It is apparently a good source of vitamin C.